Chapter 7: Butcher's Chopping Knife The hammer head broke through the wind and moved around the body. Qin Xiong narrowed his eyes slightly. The skinny young man was using Cloak Hammer Style 1, 2, 3. His moves were not standard and his power was weak, but the way he wielded the hammer was much more fluid than the other apprentices beside him. Although he was still very young and unfamiliar with the hammer technique, the fact that an apprentice who had just learned the hammer technique for the first time could achieve such a level of skill showed his talent. This kid... "He He……" In the huge open space, a group of apprentices were dancing with hammers, but Lu Zhong was the only one standing there in a daze, not even noticing when the hammer in his hand fell. The other apprentices couldn't see the difference, so why couldn't he? This apprentice from the middle courtyard who was as skinny as a chicken, was actually much more fluent in his hammer dance for the first time than when I first learned it? "Oh, you are a good blacksmith!"
Qin Xiong had a subtle look on his face. After staring for a few seconds, he glanced at the other apprentices and turned away. Lu Zhong felt a chill on his back, and when he turned around he saw his master. He couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart. He immediately lost the intention to give instructions and hurriedly followed. boom! The sledgehammer fell to the ground, splashing dust. "call!" Li Yuan gasped for breath and broke out in a sweat in the slightly cold night, but he did not feel tired. Instead, he felt as if he had not yet completed his mission. With the help of his mastery-level hammer technique, he had the urge to swing the hammer freely, but he had to restrain himself. The place and the timing are both wrong. "Sure enough, the training hammer's blessing is more in the hammering method. After just a few tries, it has surpassed other apprentices!" Glancing at Lu Zhong's departing back, Li Yuan felt that he had handled it pretty well, better than the other apprentices, but not much better. "Still need to be cautious!" Taking a steady breath, Li Yuan let go of the hammer. All the apprentices in the martial arts arena dispersed one after another, and only a few people were still gritting their teeth and persevering. Niu Gui was among them. "Too much is as bad as too little. Although I am in high spirits, my body is still a little thin. I overdid it last night, so it's not suitable for me to practice more today." Li Yuan returned to the central courtyard and first did some stretching exercises, then took a basin of water to wash his body. It was already dark. At this time, Niu Gui returned to the central courtyard, but he was still standing still, occasionally swinging his hammer, which excited several apprentices who had already lay down to get up again with gritted teeth. “Too much effort…” Li Yuan has no experience in martial arts, but he has experience in fitness. Vigorous training is harmful to the body, and muscle dissolution is no joke. He wanted to give some advice, but after thinking it over he gave up. It's not that they are just new friends, but these apprentices are fighting for the chance to change their destiny, and no one can make them give up.
"I really want a glass of watermelon juice!" Li Yuan lay down with his clothes on, and recalled his past life, falling asleep with nostalgia. The next day, Li Yuan woke up to the groaning of his fellow apprentices. He also felt sore all over. In fact, there were few people in the Central Courtyard who were in worse health than him. This has nothing to do with root bones, it's purely long-term malnutrition. "I want to eat meat!" Li Yuan heard his stomach growling. When you are fifteen or sixteen, you eat the most. Plus, your amount of exercise increases a lot, so it would be strange if you are not hungry. Despite being hungry, Li Yuan and several apprentices were busy making fire, transporting charcoal, and cleaning the yard... "Liu Qing, I'll chop wood." Li Yuan spoke up and exchanged jobs with Liu Qing, and the latter was naturally happy about it. "It's dark under the lamp, I actually forgot about this hatchet!" Reaching out and grabbing the hatchet with many cracks, Li Yuan saw a gray light again, but the light was much weaker than that of the training hammer. [Broken Hatchet (Not Ranked)] [Control conditions: None] [Control Effect: Introduction to Wood-Chopping Knife Technique] “…The lowest of the low grades!” Li Yuan shook his head in his heart, but he had no intention of asking Liu Qing to take back the job. He chopped the upright firewood in half with a casual move. "Although it's not a hammer, the technique of exerting force is the same!" Familiar with the technique of exerting force, Li Yuan chopped quickly and finished chopping today's firewood in a short while. He did not sit idle after that and continued to work on other things. Over the past month, he always felt a darkness in front of his eyes at this time, but now, although there are a lot of miscellaneous tasks, he enjoys it and keeps familiarizing himself with the force-generating techniques. At the same time, his eyes also looked towards the kitchen. That was Fatty Sun's place, and anyone who moved or looked around would be beaten. Although Li Yuan was very curious about the effects of those kitchen knives, he would not seek trouble. In the busyness, the sun soon reached its zenith. The food at the blacksmith shop at noon was not bad. The apprentices in the middle courtyard were also given three steamed buns, two bowls of porridge, and half a plate of pickled radish. "There's no oil or water!" It didn't matter whether the steamed bread tasted good or not. Li Yuan finished it in a short while. Although his stomach was almost full, he still felt hungry. "The food in the middle courtyard is only enough to fill your stomach. If you want to practice martial arts, you need to eat something else. Otherwise, you will die sooner or later!" The feeling of hunger even overwhelmed Li Yuan's desire to explore the military talisman. With the change given by his second brother, Li Yuan went straight to the cooked meat shop and bought half a pound of the cheapest pork offal. Only after eating it did he feel full in his stomach.
"Hey, man, can you let me see your meat cleaver?" Li Yuan, who had just finished eating minced meat in a corner, came to the cooked meat shop again. The waiter greeted him with a smile. Hearing what he said, he turned around and glanced at the busy shop owner before extending his hand: "Look." [Butcher's Cleaver (Not Ranked)] [Hu the Butcher’s bone-chopping knife, which he had used for many years to chop meat, was badly worn out…] [Control Effect: Introduction to Knife Skills] [Control conditions: None] "Introduction to sword skills!" Li Yuan was slightly delighted. He glanced at the badly worn bone-cutting knife and called the fat-faced shopkeeper over. After some bargaining, he bought the knife for one penny of silver. "Take control!" Li Yuan found an empty corner of the alley and half closed his eyes. On the small gray table, the butcher's boning knife was clearly visible. However, the Military Control Scroll is unable to command. "Although this platform is small, it can still accommodate a few weapons. However, if you want to control more weapons, you must be promoted to the level of Weapon Master..." Just thinking about the harsh conditions, Li Yuan felt a headache. The Great Yun Dynasty collected taxes every autumn, and only collected silver. Silver was expensive, and 1,200 copper coins could only be exchanged for one tael of silver. As for gold... That's not available on the market at all... Li Yuan was thinking about other ways to use the Weapon Control Scroll. He tried to change the weapon he was controlling. hum~ When the butcher's bone-cutting knife replaced the training hammer and entered the weapon-holding scroll, Li Yuan felt a little uncomfortable, as if someone had stripped him of a piece of clothing. "The pile skills and hammer techniques I memorized are still there, but once the mastery-level hammer techniques are gone, the familiar feeling of practicing hammer techniques for decades is gone..." Li Yuan leaned against the earth wall and felt: "But it feels like chopping meat for many years... It seems that the change of the weapon in my hand has little impact on me, but it seems that I can't change it at any time..." "Can the soldiers at the helm only be replaced every two days?" Li Yuan understood. …… …… In the following days, Li Yuan changed back to the weapon he controlled. With the help of the master-level hammer technique, his standing practice gradually improved. However, his appetite also grew, and he had to buy half a pound of minced meat almost every day. The change given by his second brother will soon run out, and Li Yuan has always firmly believed that the best place to spend the money is to spend it on himself. Qin Xiong didn't come to teach the Cloak Hammer again, as he seemed to have an escort mission. Lu Zhong taught on his behalf. After a few days, he had taught all the eighteen hammer techniques.
Li Yuan did not reveal more, but just happened to progress a little faster than the other apprentices, which attracted attention but not stood out. …… "Li Yuan, come here and clean up!" On this day, Li Yuan, who had just finished standing still and had no time to wipe his body, heard Fatty Sun's voice coming from afar. When several apprentices who had not entered the house heard the sound, they immediately quickened their pace and went back to the house. Li Yuan rubbed his wrist, responded, and came to Fatty Sun's courtyard. As the chef in charge of food and drink for most of the forging shop, Fatty Sun's treatment goes without saying. He has his own courtyard, meat for every meal, and a hot bath. At this moment, Fatty Sun, who had eaten and drunk his fill, was taking a bath in the house. He did not avoid Li Yuan, but leaned in the bathtub, smoking his pipe intermittently. "I heard you're good at hammering?" Looking at Li Yuan picking up the leftovers, Fatty Sun in the inner room blew out a smoke ring: "What a pity, what a pity." This fat man... Daoye Li's heart moved slightly, and he slowed down his packing. He looked up in confusion: "What's a pity for being the chef?" "There is something I just found out." Fatty Sun tapped his pipe outside the tub and lowered his voice with a smile on his face: "That Qin Xiong is good at martial arts, wine and meat, but the best thing about him is women!" "what?" Li Yuan's heart moved. "It is said that he has a girl in Chaiyufang. I heard her last name is Niu. She is slim and pretty..." Fatty Sun joked a little: "I heard her last name is Niu?" "Niu?" Li Yuan thought about it and remembered someone: “Niu Gui?!” After a slight shock, Li Yuan came back to his senses. He was somewhat disappointed that the quota was pre-selected, but he did not take it too seriously. A time-honored brand with a history of more than 200 years would have collapsed long ago if there was no path for promotion. If there is no this time, there will be a next time. At the very least, he learned martial arts a year or two earlier, which was not a loss... "Our weapon forging shop is a time-honored brand with a history of more than 200 years. We have our own process for training apprentices, but Qin Xiong will not be the one to teach you martial arts..." Putting down his pipe, Fatty Sun stood up from the bathtub with his big belly. He wiped it a few times, put on his clothes and walked out. "I see……" Li Yuan was a little dazed.
I'm a little curious about what this Fatty Sun wants to do. Could it be that it caught the fat guy's eye by accident? Or…… "Each courtyard has only one quota for joining the inner courtyard this time, so Niu Gui joined the middle courtyard more than a month ago. Do you understand?" Fatty Sun smiled, wanting to see the boy's expression of unwillingness to lose. Li Yuan lowered his head and said, "Thank you, Chef Sun, for your advice." "Aren't you disappointed?" Fatty Sun was a little disappointed: "You are obviously the best performer, but you can't go to the inner courtyard. Don't you have any resentment in your heart?" "I feel a little disappointed, but not much. As for resentment..." Li Yuan's heart trembled, and he lowered his head and answered honestly: "This opportunity was never meant for me, so why should I feel resentful? At least I learned martial arts..." Fatty Sun restrained his smile, stared at Li Yuan for a while, and then smiled: "It's quite interesting..." "This fat guy..." Li Yuan felt uneasy when he was stared at. This Fatty Sun must be quite skilled in martial arts, right? "Unfortunately, you are still wrong." Fatty Sun tapped his pipe and said calmly: "Although the White Ape Cloak Hammer is not considered the best martial arts in the shop, how could I easily pass it on to you?" "Incomplete?" Li Yuan reacted. "Of course, I have all the moves, but if I only have the moves and the training, even if I have the best aptitude, I won't be able to get started for three to five years!" While Fatty Sun was speaking, his big hand had already landed on Li Yuan's shoulder. Li Yuan wanted to hide, but there was no way to hide. Severe pain and coldness surged into his heart almost at the same time. "Your bones are OK, barely average, or lower average, right? Unfortunately, your body is a little weak..." Li Yuan felt a chill on his back, and his clothes were soaked with cold sweat. The moment that big hand pressed on his shoulder, he felt like a lamb in the mouth of a tiger, with his life and death out of his own control. At this moment, I couldn't help but gasp for breath, my heart pounding. This fat guy who was fawning and smiling beside Qin Xiong was actually so powerful? ! "Why, are you surprised that I know martial arts?"
Fatty Sun quite enjoyed the shock and astonishment of others: "Why do you think I got such a lucrative job as the chef of the central courtyard? My martial arts, huh huh..." Isn’t it because your brother-in-law is the second manager? Li Yuan was secretly dissatisfied in his heart, but he could only pretend to listen attentively. "The White Ape Cloak Hammer has internal and external parts, and the theory of big and small three-in-one. It can also be divided into training methods, fighting methods, and breathing methods." Under the moonlight, Fatty Sun, without a smile on his face, said calmly: "Now, I will teach you the 'Ape Six Breathing Method'!" So complicated? Li Yuan was a little stunned: "Why are you teaching me?!" "Let me teach you a lesson. In this world, if you want others to look at you differently, you must either be talented or have a purpose... With your average to low physique, could it be because you have extraordinary talent?" Fatty Sun paced a few steps, then turned around with his hands behind his back. In the darkness, the sneer on his fat face could still be seen: "Of course it's because your second brother gave me money!" (End of this chapter)